heterotopic pregnancy, misscarage and laparotomy

[sammiejoe]

Hello, I found out that I was pregnant but I was bleeding for 4 weeks previous, so the doctor naturally referred me to the hospital. I had my bloods taken for hcg levels and a scan was booked. When I had my 1st scan they said it was too early to see anything. I was booked in for another scan a week later n my hcg levels were monitored. 2nd scan the sonographer showed me a dark splodge on the screan, but said my left ovary looks inflamed.. they sent me home and booked me for another scan for 2 weeks later.. I was getting very worried about the bleeding so I asked if I could come and have my hcg levels checked (just to see if baby was developing) the levels had gone up but not as much as they should have. So I was booked in for a scan earlier.. I lost a big peice of tissue a few days prior to the scan so I was concerned that I had miscarried. The sonographer said that there wasnt a baby in my uterus, she said theres something in your left tube but the doctor would explain everything. The doctor said its just a straight forward misscarage but they will do my hcg levels just to see. And they sent me home. An hour later I keeled over and had to be wheelchaired to an ambulance. I tried explaining I might be ectopic to everyone I spoke to but they just kept saying im misscarying .. the pain was emmence.. 4 hours later in a&e they checked my blood pressure and it was dangerously low. A surgeon luckily came into a&e and I heard her say that im very poorly... anyway turns out i had an ectopic twin and it had ruptured. I had internal bleeding and they had to perform emergency surgery. I signed a form to say I allow them to do a laparotomy (abdominal surgery) if they failed at a laparascopy (keyhole) its been 1 week and I seem to be recovering alright but I get a new pain in a different place every couple of days. Would be nice to see how others coped with it

Hi there,

We've moved this to miscarriage so that you might get a few helpful replies from others who have been in your situation.

Hope you're starting to feel better.

I had the same thing (ish) a heterotopic pregnancy, ruptured ectopic, laparotomy converted from laparoscopy.

Mine was mis-diagnosed as being a twin pregnancy, with both twins in the uterus, the ectopic was actually corneal and very hard to spot with ultrasound so not really their fault. When it ruptured they had to abort the other baby to save my life/complete the repair to my uterus.

A hideous experience, physical recovery wise I took 7 weeks off work, but could easily have gone back after 5. I took 2 more as I had full sick pay anyway, and needed to mentally get back to full health. I remember crying on DH a few days after the surgery and just thinking I'd never be happy again - quite a bit of that was the hormone crash though. MN miscarriage boards were a great support, and so was doing things like buying a special piece of jewellery to remember my twins.

The early days I didn't go out much, just focused fully on eating well, very gentle walking, a bit further each day, and looking after myself. I did find some of the fussing over me (not from DH, but other family members) annoying, I dislike being the centre of attention though!

Happily, I'm now 32 weeks pregnant with my first DC, conceived 10months after the ectopic. I'm having an ELCS, but that was due to the nature of the ectopic rather than the laparotomy. And although it was a hideous experience, I'm glad in a slightly twisted way that I had it - it's made me appreciate family, friends, DH and this pregnancy, as well as the NHS.

PM me if you want to talk any further x